TIGHT SPOT:State Sen. Daniel Squadron and Assemblywoman Joan Millman (above) are co-sponsoring legislation that would restrict most street parking to neighborhood residents after an outcry from people living near the Barclays Center (above). Photo: Shannon DeCelle

(Christian Johnston)

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City residents may soon get the exclusive right to park on the streets where they live.

After years of false starts, state and city legislators are seriously looking at a plan to establish residential parking permits in the Big Apple.

Drivers who live in designated neighborhoods and pay for a permit would be the only ones allowed to park in 80 percent of the spots.

The latest push came after Brooklyn residents began complaining that people attending events at the Barclays Center in Prospect Heights, which is set to open next year, would monopolize most of the parking spaces in their neighborhood.

The new 18,000-seat arena will only have 1,100 designated parking spots — and parking is already tight in the surrounding area.

But the push isn’t limited to those living near the future home of the Brooklyn Nets.

Other New York neighborhoods – particularly ones that have long been abused as virtual park-and-rides for mass transit commuters — have also expressed interest.

They include Harlem and the Upper East and West sides in Manhattan; Long Island City in Queens as well as Brooklyn Heights and Downtown Brooklyn.

The price of the residential permits has not been determined.

The City Council tomorrow is hosting a public hearing on a proposed state bill to give the council and city Department of Transportation the power to dish out the permits on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood basis.

The hearing begins 10:30 am at 250 Broadway near City Hall.

“Permit parking is long overdue in Downtown Brooklyn, Western Queens, Upper Manhattan and other communities where residents must circle for hours trying to find parking near their homes,” said state Sen. Daniel Squadron, who is co-sponsoring the legislation with another Brooklyn Democrat, Assemblywoman Joan Millman.

“The permits empower communities, and they even help small businesses,” added the senator, who called the hearing “a huge step” at getting the permit plan approved.

The council will decide whether it should endorse the plan through a home-rule message to the state Legislature.

Sources said that with the arena close to opening, there is now a groundswell of support for the council to back the plan after years of indifference by many of its members on the topic.

Councilwoman Letitia James (D-Brooklyn), who arranged the hearing, said the permits are crucial in neighborhoods near the arena like Fort Greene and Park Slope because they would discourage arena patrons from driving to events — thus reducing traffic congestion.

Under the proposed legislation, the city would determine which neighborhoods get the permit perks and what hours the new regulations would be in effect.

Residents would pay a fee for the permits, and 20 percent of all spaces in the permit zones would be made available as short term parking for nonresidents. Commercial strips would not qualify.

“We have a long way to go, but it looks like there is finally enough citywide support to make it happen,” said Judy Stanton, executive director of the Brooklyn Heights Association, which has long pushed for residential permit parking in the Heights.

The state Assembly is already supportive of the permit plan but the state Senate is undecided. A spokesman for Mayor Bloomberg, who was great influence over the Republican-controlled Senate, declined comment on the bill.

However, the mayor previously backed residential-permit parking as part of his failed congestion-pricing plan.